Luxembourg’s recently elected openly gay Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, promised during his election campaign to legalize marriage equality by the first trimester of 2014.

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The country already has a form of civil union, called Partenariats (partnerships) that were legalized in 2004.

They are based on the French Civil Solidarity Pact (PACS) for both same- and opposite-sex couples.

The partnerships provide many of the rights of marriage in relation to access to welfare benefits and taxes but are not equal or defined as marriage, and do not give the right to jointly adopt children.